Topline: The SDPD criminalizes communities of color, especially Black people, in Southeast San Diego by falsely labeling them as gang members. This routine practice inflicts devastating racially biased harms, undermines community safety, and wastes tremendous public dollars.

Community quote or video

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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CONTEXT

• Falsely documenting people of color as gang members is a longstanding racially biased practice of law enforcement agencies, especially SDPD

  • Critique/debunk normative assumptions about what it means to be a gang member

  • Gang Documentation and Databases are a Longstanding Problem

  • SDPD has a history and practice of Incorrectly Documenting People as Gang Members

Community quote or video

• This is “Criminalization” (define via callout box) and it Inflicts Devastating Racially Biased Harms (direct and indirect) (Mitchelle)

Community quote or video

Criminalization callout box

FINDINGS

1. SDPD targets communities of color, particularly Black and young people in Southeast San Diego, with this harmful practice

Community quote or video

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Data show that stops made by the SDPD are racially biased.

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Available data show that SDPD’s gang enforcement assignment profiles young and Black people for gang activity.

Community quote or video

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SDPD data are underinclusive and mask the extent of racially biased, gang profiling in San Diego.

• Compare what data show (relatively low numbers) to lived experiences (revealing a more expansive practice)

• Compare to figures in CalGang

• Explain inconsistency between Gang Unit (under SDPD) and “Gang Enforcement” Assignment (under RIPA)

• Denial of PRA Request on Gang Unit is a form of secrecy (rather than transparency) used to hidecover SDPD’s racially biased gang documentation practices. This lack of transparency erodes both public trust in SDPD’s ability to advance and community safety.

Beyond the gang enforcement assignment, an analysis of stops that result in field interview cards also show that SDPD targets young, Black people, unfairly labeling them as gang members.

FI Card explanation/definition

Community quote or video

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2. Such racially biased stops harm the Southeast community and undermine community safety.

Community quote or video

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When searches are conducted as a part of gang profiling, they are largely ineffective and biased.

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Southeast community members have had their wellbeing and safety harmed by gang enforcement stops.

Community quote or video

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Race/ethnicity: AIAN=American Indian or Alaska Native, NHPI=Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, MESA=Middle Eastern or South Asian; Observations by race may overlap in the point density map.
Catalyst California’s calculations based on City of San Diego’s Police Stop Data (2022); Catalyst California, 2023. Analysis for all officer-initiated stops.

3. These racially biased activities waste public resources.

Community quote or video

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Based on available data, SDPD spends a disproportionate amount of time on profiling people of color for gang activity.

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This time translates to wasted public dollars.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Alternative investments that actually increase safety
2. Enact the Protect Act
3. Others…
   

METHODOLOGY

[link to methodology on GitHub]